Offers an examination of African Americans in sports, those highly successful and influential individuals, athletes, and teams who have transcended "mere" celebrity to come to represent a given era. This book explores the history and lives of complex, multi-layered personages and groups who reflect the conflicts and contradictions of their times.

This text offers an examination of African Americans in sports, those highly successful and influential individuals, athletes, and teams who have transcended "mere" celebrity to come to represent a given era. The book explores the history and lives of complex, multi-layered personages and groups who reflect the conflicts and contradictions of their times, and it examines the extent to which modern mass media and popular culture have contributed to the rise, and sometimes fall, of the these powerful symbols of athletic, individual, and group excellence.It includes articles on: the Williams Sisters; Shaquille O'Neal; Jim Brown; The Harlem Globetrotters; Jack Johnson; Jesse Owens; Joe Louis; Magic Johnson; Wilma Rudolph; Muhammad Ali; Barry Bonds; Negro Baseball Leagues; Tiger Woods; Michael Jordan; Florence Griffith Joyner; Eddie Robinson; Arthur Ashe; George Foreman; and, others.